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Grand Palais FIAC 2010, all photos by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed
Events at the Grand Palais and Cour Caree du Louvre concluded Sunday afternoon as FIAC 2010 came to a close in Paris. Looking back on what happened in the city’s biggest week for contemporary art, the fair seems to capture many of the same trends that marked the hesitant atmosphere of the Frieze art fair in London. The fair unofficially opened last Tuesday, October 19th, to an ever growing VIP preview audience that this year numbered over 20,000.
Robust early sales at well established galleries suggested that dealers would enjoy even greater success than was seen in London in the same week, several high price tagged items, including Anish Kapoor’s $2.4 million Slug and Takashi Murakami’s $1.6 million Kiki, remained unclaimed well into this weekend. Even the French government toned down its own purchasing, as the cultural ministry spent $280,000 on eight works this year, down from 24 works for roughly twice as much last year. The market certainly isn’t dead but lavish spending akin to the 2007 boom hasn’t made an aggressive comeback.
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At Gagosian, photo by Tiphaine Popesco
More text and images after the jump…
Adel Abdessemed, the only artist represented at David Zwirner Gallery, drew among the most noteworthy sales, selling and reserving two pieces–a wall of masks and “Taxadermie,” a block of taxidermied animals–at just under $400,00o dollars each. However, few could argue that anyone had a better week than US art behemoth Larry Gagosian, who in seven days time was named the most powerful man in art, honored with the Légion d’Honneur by culture minister Frédéric Mitterand, and opened a new gallery in Paris, almost immediately  selling $20 million dollars worth of  Cy Twombly works. Those artists that fared particularly well included the expected, like Lucio Fontana, who sold a piece for $2.8 million, as well as younger talent, like the street artist duo Faille, who sold two works, one of them, “Fashionâ€, priced at $45,000. Overall, buyers showed up to do business at FIAC but acquisitions remained calculated.
Among the guests at the fair’s two main venues were French billionaire Francois Pinault, owner of Christie’s Internation and american singer Lenny Kravitz.
Final Photo Set FIAC 2010, photos by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed
At the Grand Palais:
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Adel Abdessemed, Taxidermie, 2010,  photo by Tiphaine Popesco
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Laurent Strouk
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Jerome De Noirmont
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photo by Tiphaine Popesco
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Melvina Mosse and Raoul Sao
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Pierre Soulages
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Le Corbusier, Pierre Soulages
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Matthew Day Jackson, The Way We Were
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Anish Kapoor
At Cour Carree du Louvre:
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Ugo Rondinone
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Shireen Gandhy
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Johanna Chromix
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Vladimir Kozin
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Andrey Blokhin, Recycle
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Mounir Fatmi, Mixology, 2o1o
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Michel Journiac
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Franck Perrin
Related Links:
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France buys eight works at major art fair, spending down [AFP]
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Gagosian Sells $20 Million Art in Paris, Planning Global Growth [Bloomberg]
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The Art Market: FIAC sales [Financial Times]
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Top 10 Things to See During FIAC Week in Paris [Huffington Post]
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Pinault, Lenny Kravizt Browse FIAC Art Fair as $2.8 Million Fontana Sells [Bloomberg]
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Five Must-See Displays at FIAC [Art Info]
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The Five Best Booths at FIAC [Art Info]
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AO On Site – Paris: FIAC 2010 Begins at the Grand Palais and the Cour Carree du Louvre Through Sunday Oct. 24TH [Art Observed]
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AO On Site – Paris: FIAC 2010 Mid-Fair News Brief and Photo Set 1 OF 2 [Art Observed]